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Moral identity joins two traditions of theorizing. Attempts to characterize the essences of morality, to understand the origins of moral inclinations, and to promote the pursuit of a moral life are found throughout the histories of philosophy and psychology. Agreat deal of progress has been made along the way. The questions concerning moral life to which answers are sought are much clearer; weaknesses in early philosophical and psychological theories seeking to explain moral life have been revealed; and there is an accumulating store of information about human nature that can inform efforts to understand the moral domain. The conceptual and empirical progress makes the moral domain ripe for study. But so does its enduring relevance for our lives; moral questions and moral issues pervade our experience. Events at the scale of nations have moral facets, as do our daily interactions with others. The notion of identity also fascinates philosophers and psychologists, many of whom believe that the importance of identity for understanding human affairs increases as cultures are transformed by modernity (e.g., Baumeister, 1986; Taylor, 1989).

Identity concerns our fundamental notions of ourselves: who we are, what we are doing in this world, and where we are going. These kinds of concerns are connected in some fashion to our moral values, appraisals, emotions, and actions. As Flanagan has pointed out: "The connection with either or both social peace, harmony, and welfare, on the one hand, and self-esteem and personal identity, on the other, is probably a necessary condition for something--a value, a virtue, a kind of action, a principle, or a problem--to fall under t he concept of morality" (1991, p. 18). Bringing together the notions of morality and identity offers opportunities for broadening our understanding of morality and identity as well as deepening our appreciation of the complexity of human life. Before examining why the two should be brought together, it is worthwhile to discuss briefly the broad outlines of each.